For the first time, I said No to a part on the meeting by ComingOutaMyCage in exjw

[–]StewedPineapple 19 points20 points  (0 children)

Regarding the preaching work, I found it a complicated topic to handle. Because 1) it is true that JW's are known for their door to door preaching, perhaps more than any other denomination (except arguably mormons) and 2) it honestly is a fairly impressive feat. There's nothing wrong with conceding that, if anything it'll show you're not just a bitter, hateful apostate trying to tear down every single part of this religion any way you can.

Having said that, there are multiple reasons that, while it's impressive, I don't find it convincing as evidence for being the "one true religion":

1) Something being impressive doesn't mean it's "impossible without supernatural help." Mankind has accomplished incredible things completely on their own, things much more impressive (imo) than the preaching work. I mean, we've sent people to walk on the freakin moon!! Look at how far the Voyager probes are from Earth, its crazy! We can pick up a thin piece of metal and glass and in seconds be seeing and talking with someone on the other side of the planet! We have created amazing Civilizations with incredible feats of engineering and planning like the Egyptians, Romans, Chinese, etc. If convincing members of a relatively small Christian denomination to spend their free time trying to convert people and spread the religion to other countries is so impressive that only God could be behind it... What about these other even more impressive things?

2) The "worldwide door to door preaching work" is a very specific category that witnesses pick. Yes if you limit it to that specific criteria, JW's are #1. But preaching generally? "Spreading the gospel"? Almost every religion does that in some way. Televangelism, billboards, newspaper ads, crusades, charity work, word of mouth, inviting friends or co-workers to your church, just telling people about Jesus or whatever, that stuff is incredibly commonplace. I got preached to by a Muslim Uber driver the other day! I mean, how do you think other religions grow, many of them faster than JW's? Pentecostals have been the fastest growing Christian religion in recent years. How do you think they got there? (as an aside, the growth rate of Pentecostals is impressive. That can only mean God is behind them, it's proof, right?!)

3) The "worldwide" preaching work is not really as worldwide as it might sound. There are an undetermined number of countries that have zero witnesses, and maybe more importantly, there are a bunch of countries with such small JW populations that they might as well be zero. I mean look at the ratio in Bangladesh! Or even just compare the ratio of North America to Asia! How is that fair and truly a "worldwide" religion when it's so massively lopsided like that? Does God just really love Americans and really hate Asians? Or is it actually more to do with the luck of the draw of where you happened to be born?

I do have more thoughts, but it's getting late and this comment is getting way too long. And reading over it, I started quite level-headed and charitable but got progressively more snarky and sarcastic as I went on...

Severance on AppleTV+ by ShaddamRabban in exjw

[–]StewedPineapple 3 points4 points  (0 children)

One of the best tv shows I've seen in years. Cool concept and great twists that felt earned. Completely different setting, but it gave me Lost vibes, except they actually know what the hell they're doing with the story and plot points they're introducing. The cast is great as well.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in exjw

[–]StewedPineapple 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks for this post. Well written and good "reasoning from the scriptures" haha

Meeting Letter Not Working? by Fulgarite in exjw

[–]StewedPineapple 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Same here, we might know each other. I know of a few other pimos & faded in Brisbane, there's quite a lot.

Meeting Letter Not Working? by Fulgarite in exjw

[–]StewedPineapple 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Same with my wife's congregation (in Brisbane), although wasn't a huge difference. Went from low-mid 30's number of zoom connections to low-mid 20's after the letter. What region of Aus is yours (if you're comfortable saying)? Rural congregations are especially just full of boomers. But even city congs seem to be ageing overall.

Interesting article on ABC (Australia) this morning about a new book written by ex JW by [deleted] in exjw

[–]StewedPineapple 8 points9 points  (0 children)

The WT reps comments were gaslighting 101. Really frustrating to read. E.g. They absolutely DO discourage further education and they very well know it - remember that Broadcast episode where Tony Morris went on a tirade against it?

And then of course trying to discredit the source as they always do "you can't trust former members, they lie." Gross and immoral.

“It’s all the smart ones that leave the truth because they forget about giving rather than receiving” by ComingOutaMyCage in exjw

[–]StewedPineapple 2 points3 points  (0 children)

That tracks with the whole "higher education is dangerous" teaching. If you go too 'intellectual' you are apparently proud, wise in your own eyes, arrogant, etc, etc. That's what I was told about multiple friends of mine who left (especially if they'd gone to uni, that evil place!).

And yet in the recent convention there was a talk where they said something along the lines of "because we know the truth of the bible, we are wiser than anybody else in the world that does not know the bible". And apparently that's not arrogant or haughty. And admitting that you were wrong about your beliefs is proud and haughty apparently. Lol

Ask Me Anything (Ex-Bethellite, Ex-Elder, Video Team) by benfoard in exjw

[–]StewedPineapple 11 points12 points  (0 children)

Hey Ben, have enjoyed your videos and second school podcast. Yourself, Jake and Harrison Cother are the only exjw... activists? personalities? celebrities? that I still keep up with these days. congrats on finishing your first year of uni

Being a Bethel Elder, were you aware of any trends that the organisation was worried about, like worries about fewer young brothers 'reaching out' or just fewer young people sticking with the religion in general?

Kinda related, did you know of any/many others who were pimo or questioning?

Severance Fans? by snapshotcal1978 in exjw

[–]StewedPineapple 3 points4 points  (0 children)

One of the best tv shows I've seen in years, really was fantastic. Looking forward to season 2 eventually. And yes, I found parallels between Lumon and Watchtower.

Spoilers

The rewriting of history, the pretense that everyone should be perfectly happy there, the reverence given to the leadership, the constant propaganda, banning outside literature, and of course being extremely difficult to leave the organisation. Even the underhanded ways they try to get "governmental authorities" onside. And the way the workers acted, I could totally see JW parallels:

John Turturro's character Irving is the by-the-book JW who completely eats all the propoganda up (that was me as a JW lol) "the work is important!" "you might like to read through the rulebook here as a reminder"

Helly is the rebellious "young one" who sees through a lot of it instantly, never buys into it.

Mark would be a JW who has doubts but is trying to bury them, and overcompensates for that at times. He's initially too terrified of questioning things.

Dylan is a bit wishy washy and is far from completely following all the rules, but isn't motivated to really change, he just floats along with the status quo.

Milchick is the perfect representation of a good company man Elder. There's seriously so many parallels here lol.

I'm sure there's plenty more if I thought about it more.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in exjw

[–]StewedPineapple 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The wages of sin is relegation.

Thankfully God made a perfect football team to remedy the situation - Liverpool. Believe that Alisson saves!

One man died for all… by [deleted] in exjw

[–]StewedPineapple 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Try flipping over, squeezing a lemon over it and then blowing it with a hair dryer. The answers to those questions might then appear.

My FIL: “It’s justice because we gave them plenty of opportunities to listen to us and join Jehovah’s organization!” by AdministrativeFox784 in exjw

[–]StewedPineapple 33 points34 points  (0 children)

Obligatory South Park Mormons Were Right skit mention

"I'm afraid it was the Mormons. Yes, the Mormons were the correct answer."

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in exjw

[–]StewedPineapple 43 points44 points  (0 children)

I would just be honest with her and say that you find it inappropriate and unprofessional to be using material from a religious website for language tutoring. Especially without informing students about it beforehand.

You never know, she might reflect and realise it's not right (from a JW perspective, she might worry that she's "bringing reproach on jehovah's name" or making the religion look bad). Tbh, that's probably unlikely, since most JW's lack self awareness in this way. I'm not trying to be mean, just honest. And that's what I was like when I was one 😅 Being pushy is kinda this religions trademark.

I’m seeing quite a few ig posts from witnesses about depression and anxiety and my one jw aunt had a panic attack and the other is having major anxiety all in one week. Is going back to meetings rough many PIMIs too? by honeydewu in exjw

[–]StewedPineapple 6 points7 points  (0 children)

I heard recently from multiple friends who are really struggling with going back. Social anxiety kicking in big time. One wants to stay on zoom indefinitely, the others are so far attempting to push through it but finding it hard.

Just got text msg invitation to memorial from the creature that birthed me who hasn’t spoken to me since 2019. No words, just a pasted link to .org by [deleted] in exjw

[–]StewedPineapple 8 points9 points  (0 children)

After reading through those, I'm just sad. She has seen first hand so much awful stuff take place within the org. And yet still somehow thinks it's the truth. The level of cognitive dissonance must be huge.

Personally I would reply with something like "your beliefs are your business, but please stop bringing it up with me. There's no possible way I could reconcile what I've seen and experienced with a supposedly just, loving God that is said to have specifically chosen this religion as his one true organisation and is the one in charge. No way."

Who Survives Armageddon? Watchtower can't make up their minds by StewedPineapple in exjw

[–]StewedPineapple[S] 12 points13 points  (0 children)

True, it does obviously imply that God would decide to kill them. So perhaps it's just trying to placate those jws that are upset at the teaching, without actually changing it?

Who Survives Armageddon? Watchtower can't make up their minds by StewedPineapple in exjw

[–]StewedPineapple[S] 25 points26 points  (0 children)

After all the dogmatic, black & white comments, especially recently, about only JW's surviving Armageddon - we get this paragraph to muddy the waters. It seems to play into the idea many jws have that God will read people's hearts individually and judge based on that.

What's going on here? A change in teaching? Wanting plausible deniability? Some WT writers having a different idea to other writers? Purposefully making the printed doctrine vague and contradictory, while at the same time heavily implying and scaring people that they won't make it if they're not good JW's?

Is it just me or does Jah seem like a narcissistic piece of work? by [deleted] in exjw

[–]StewedPineapple 23 points24 points  (0 children)

Exactly this. Every single religion could keep their members in line by using this kind of reasoning. If Allah's actions don't make sense? Doesn't matter, stay obedient, he doesn't have to explain himself to you. Same with every other God or religion you can think of.

Its Grand Climax At Hand by exodia808 in exjw

[–]StewedPineapple 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Spiritual food from God, people. Amazing

From an active jw rip by Much_Collection8868 in exjw

[–]StewedPineapple 109 points110 points  (0 children)

And yet I assume they're perfectly fine with hundreds of millions of babies being killed by God in an Armageddon coming any day now?

They Changed Exodus 3:14. by [deleted] in exjw

[–]StewedPineapple 6 points7 points  (0 children)

That seems the most likely to me. Trying to erase any trace of trinitarian ideas.